Tom Douglas isn't entirely sure that "I Run to You" first came to him the way he remembers it. But he has a good excuse: the songwriter was running all 26.2 miles of Nashville's annual marathon, and he remembers feeling 'delirious' as another runner's T-shirt got his creative juices flowing.

Two days later, he was trying to come up with a song with a up-and-coming country trio: Lady Antebellum. "I Run to You" ended up being the group's first number one hit. Douglas recalled writing 'I Run To You' in a conversation with Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International.

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Story Behind the Song: 'I Run To You'
Dave Paulson

You’re a runner, and that’s kind of how (this song) started.

TD: Yes. What I’m about to tell you I’m not sure is actually true, but I’ve told it so much and it’s such a good story…So, I was running in the Nashville marathon.

The full 26 [miles]?

TD: The full 26. The painful full 26. I had followed this guy. You know, you get to the point in a marathon that you are delirious....It’s an insane thing to even attempt. But I followed this guy and on the back of his t-shirt, it said: “I Run This Town.”

But I followed (him) so long that I developed an intense hatred for him. I just hated everything about him. I hated running. I hated him. I hated his t-shirt. I started thinking about similes and metaphors and analogies: I run this town like a mayor, I run this town like a mafia boss, I run it from point a to point b. I was just trying to distract myself from the pain of mile 16. So, fast forward to the, well (the marathon) was on a Saturday. The coming Monday I was to write with a fresh-faced, new trio.

I didn’t know this part! Literally it’s two or three days later?

TD: Two/three days and I had had weeks to prepare for “the next big thing” that was coming to my house Monday. If I have too much time to prepare, I get paralyzed; I couldn’t rhyme blue with you to save my soul. I was supposed to have some ideas for “the next big thing” that was coming and I couldn’t think of anything. Monday morning, they were going to come at 10:00. At 9:00 I felt sick to stomach like I should have called them [like] “The gas that you’ve spent is not even worth coming over here. Don’t come.” Sure enough they came. Three metal chairs, knee touching, fresh faced group and they said, “What do you got for me?”

And their name is…

Charles Kelley, left, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood, of Lady Antebellum, perform during the 52nd Academy of Country Music Awards at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday, April 2, 2017, in Las Vegas, Nev.(Photo: Larry McCormack / Tennessean.com)

TD: Lady Antebellum. Literally I was in a free fall of panic [that day]. So, I put my hands on the keyboard and I played four chords. I said, “I run from hate and I run from prejudice.” And as I was saying those words I was thinking to myself: I don’t even know what those words mean and I wrote them, there’s no telling what they’re thinking. I open my eyes expecting to see them bewildered and befuddled but they were like, “That’s brilliant, man.” I was like, “Hey, I’ve been saving this for you for months.” Fortunately I had Lady Antebellum in the room that day so that’s how that started.

How did the rest of the song evolve that day?

TD: We finished it that day. We went finished half of it and then went to like Loveless Café for lunch, had some fried chicken, we came back and finished it up. It is interesting because a new artist is likely to say things that they might not say as they go on in to their career. They are some interesting words in that. “I run from prejudice / I run from pessimists / I run from hate.” “I run my life or is it running me.” “I run too fast / I run too slow it seems.” “I run from disaster.” You know, there are a lot of heavy words.

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Lady Antebellum performs at "The Joint" for ACM Party For A Cause inside Hard Rock Cafe
Saturday April 1, 2017, in Las Vegas, NV
(Photo: Larry McCormack / The Tennessean)

...As soon as Dave started playing the guitar and Charles and Hillary started singing, it was such a joyous sound [with] their melodic sense and their harmonies. Honestly they could literally sing the phonebook. Even though the words are somewhat despairing, the lilt of the melody and their voices makes it like it’s going to be okay.

So, this song comes out, I think it’s maybe the fourth single on that record. It’s their first #1.

Yeah.

Sometimes I think, in the case of this song, for you, (the group), the producers and certainly for the label, it was a little bit of a risk.

TD: Yeah, it was a risk. They had a good run, they had a good initial splash and I think it’s courageous of the label to be like, “Hey, let’s try this.” There were things that happened in the headlines that made this song more relevant than any other time. Of course, those words are still relevant. They’re very relevant today.

I know people have had to go, 'Tom, here’s how this (song) touched my life.'

TD: Yeah, well those really are the stories that kind of make it all worthwhile...I think what we want to relate to in art is honestly the hardships, the difficulties. As fans and listeners, we want to apply our life story to art. That’s kind of where the intersection of art and commerce meet.

About the series

In partnership with Nashville Songwriters Association International, we will release a video interview with a songwriter about his or her work each week.